View source for Place:Ikaros (Failaka Island)

{{Short description|Ancient Greek name for Failaka Island, Kuwait}}
{{Infobox ancient site|name=Ikaros|map_type=Kuwait#Near East|relief=yes|map_alt=|coordinates={{coord|29|26|20|N|48|20|00|E|region:KW_dim:20000|display=inline,title}} (approximate)|epochs=|location={{flag|Kuwait}}|region=[[Place:Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]]|type=|map_caption=Location within Kuwait##Location within the [[Place:Near East|Near East]]|map_label_position=|map dot label=Ikaros (Failaka)|native_name_lang=gr|native_name=Ἴκαρος}}
'''Ikaros''' ({{lang-gr|Ἴκαρος}}) was the Hellenistic name for what is now the [[Place:Failaka Island|Failaka Island]] of Kuwait.<ref>J. Hansamans, Charax and the Karkhen, ''Iranica Antiquitua'' 7 (1967) page 21-58</ref> It is located {{Convert|50|km|mi}} southeast of the spot where the [[Place:Tigris–Euphrates river system|Tigris and Euphrates]] empty into the Persian Gulf.<ref name=nasa>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/failaka-island-kuwait|title=Failaka Island, Kuwait|work=[[Organization:Jet Propulsion Laboratory|Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|date=4 April 2013}}</ref> For thousands of years, the island served as a strategic point in the Persian Gulf that would enable its ruler to control the lucrative trade that passed through the area;<ref name=unes/><ref name=nasa/> the island has been a strategic location since the rise of the Sumerian city-state of Ur in [[Place:Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]].<ref name="unes">{{cite web|title=Failaka Island – Silk Roads Programme|url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silk-road-themes/underwater-heritage/failaka-island|work=[[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]]}}</ref>

Having returned to [[Place:Greater Iran|Persia]] after his Indian campaign, an order was issued by Alexander the Great that called for the island to be named Icarus on the namesake of [[Biography:Icaria|the Greek island in the Aegean Sea]].<ref name="Arrian"/> This was likely a [[Social:Hellenization|Hellenized]] version of the local name, ''Akar'' (Aramaic: ´KR), derived from the ancient [[History:Bronze Age|Bronze-Age]] toponym Agarum.<ref>Steffen Terp Laursen: ''Royal Mounds of A'ali in Bahrain: The Emergence of Kingship in Early Dilmun'' (pp. 340–343). ISD LLC, 2017. {{ISBN|9788793423190}}.</ref> Another suggestion is that the name Ikaros was influenced by the local É-kara temple, dedicated to the Babylonian sun-god [[Religion:Utu|Shamash]]. That both Failaka in the Persian Gulf and Icarus in the Aegean Sea housed bull cults would have made the identification all the more tempting.<ref>Michael Rice: ''The Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf'' (p. 208). Routledge, 2002. {{ISBN|9781134967933}}.</ref><ref>Jean-Jacques Glassner: "Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha" (1988); ''Indian Ocean In Antiquity'' (pp. 240-243), edited by Julian Reade. Kegan Paul International, 1996. Reissued by Routledge in 2013. {{ISBN|9781136155314}}.</ref>

During the Hellenistic era, there was a temple dedicated to [[Religion:Artemis|Artemis]] on the island;<ref name="Arrian">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0074.tlg001.perseus-grc1:7.20 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, §7.20]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/201#600 Dionysius of Alexandria, Guide to the Inhabited World, §600]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/560#11.9 Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, §11.9]</ref> the wild animals of the island were dedicated to the goddess with a decree for their protection.<ref name="Arrian"/> Strabo wrote that there was a temple of [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]] and an [[Unsolved:Oracle|oracle]] of Artemis (μαντεῖον Ταυροπόλου; ''Tauropolus'').<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/144#16.3.2 Strabo, Geography, §16.3.2]</ref> The island is also mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/241#I329.12 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §I329.12]</ref> and [[Biography:Ptolemy|Ptolemaeus]].<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/209#6.7.47 Ptolemaeus, Geography, §6.7.47]</ref>

Remains of the settlement include a large Hellenistic fort and two Greek temples.<ref>George Fadlo Hourani, John Carswell, Arab Seafaring: In the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]] in Ancient and Early Medieval Times  Princeton University Press,[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDh2KKSlQg4C&q=Charax+&pg=PA164  page 131]</ref> Failaka was also a trading post (emporion) of the [[History:Parthian Empire|Parthian]] kingdom of Characene.

==See also==
* Agarum
* [[Place:Failaka Island|Failaka Island]]
* Akkaz Island
* Umm an Namil Island
* H3 (Kuwait)
* Bahra 1
* Kazma
* Subiya, Kuwait

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Mesopotamia]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ikaros (Failaka Island)}}